Learn How to Type Without Looking: A Quick and Easy Method
Master typing without looking, using one easy sentence.
If you spend a lot of time typing online, you know how frustrating it can be having to look away from your monitor and down at your fingers when you type.
When you are trying to write articles or papers or striving to complete assignments, it can be time consuming if you are constantly switching between reference books and your keyboard.
If you are creating articles for online content sites such as Triond, you’ll definitely need to learn how to type without looking to take some of the work out of the article submission process.
You may not have the time or finances to devote to a typing course. So, how can you master the skill of typing without looking?
Mastering Typing Without Looking in Three Steps
- It helps to type sentences that use all the letters of the alphabet
- Whenever you have a few free moments, use these sentences to practice typing without looking at your fingers
- Type the sentences over and over
The following two sentences utilize every letter in the alphabet and if you practice typing each just a couple of times per day or a couple of times each week, you’ll find that your typing ability and speed grow rapidly.
Sentences that Help You to Type Without Looking:
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
- Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
Start with the first sentence and if you have to look in order to memorize the sentence or help your fingers to find the keys that’s okay, too. (Don’t worry about capitalization or punctuation; the idea is to just master the letters.)
Once you’ve committed the first sentence to memory and have a better feel for the keyboard, you should be able to start typing it without looking.
Don’t worry about typos. These will happen. Just keep practicing until you can type the first sentence flawlessly.
The process will seem awkward, at first-especially since you’ve relied on looking at your fingers while you type but you’ll be amazed at how you learn to feel the keys and how you start to type without looking at your fingers.
Typing Without Looking
Typing without looking is simply a matter of training your fingers to locate the keys on the keyboard. Once you develop a feel for where your fingers should go, the process becomes easier and easier. (This is really no different from learning to play a musical instrument or operating machinery. With practice, these tasks become automatic.)
This exercise is designed for people who have some knowledge of typing and who know where their fingers should be placed on the keys
And, for those of you who don’t know: your fingers should rest on the middle line of letters and cover the keys on either side of the letters G and H. Just line your fingers up sequentially on the letters on either side and you are ready to start typing! See my article Learning Typing: Finger Placement on Alphabet Keys for detailed instructions.
If you practice these two sentences faithfully, in a short period of time you will learn to type without looking.
Note: a sentence that uses all letters of the alphabet is called a pangram. It is good typing practice, using a pangram to master keyboard letters. Using a pangram to learn how to type is considered one of the easiest methods.
Pangrams for Typing Practice
Computer Typing Lessons
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July 30th, 2008 at 5:17 am
I’ev always found that when I try to touch type, I fail miserabley. However if I just start typing and then something on screen grabs my attention, I can do it just fine until I notice that I’m doing it. Then it all goes kaput.
Seems a lot like flying in the Hitchhiker’s books…
July 30th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Hi Evis,
I took typing back in school but had slipped back into looking while typing. A couple of years ago, when I found that my writing work entailed more and more typing, I found looking at my fingers really slowed me down.
I didn’t want to bother with a course, so I devised these sentences and did a couple of practice sessions and was surprised at how quickly I got to the point where I could type without looking.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I can’t type without looking at the keyboard. I’ll try your suggestions
July 30th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I really need this! I’ll try your suggestions, thanks!
July 30th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Hi Leo and Allison,
You’ll be so glad you did because you start to fly on the keyboard!
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 am
Hi Athlyn
This is a good article…
It actually concerns not only the Triond community, but the worldwide writers.
This is of great help in encouraging each writer to write more.
Best regards,
Rionel “2tet”
http://www.triond.com/users/2tet
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Hi Rionel,
Yes for adult typists who are familiar with the keyboard, these sentences can help them to transition to typing without looking.
I’m so thrilled that I took the time to type these.I was surprised at how quickly I nailed being able to type without looking. Now, it’s as if my fingets can “see” the keys because I can feel the right ones.
August 11th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Awesome article and I’m a one finger typer so this will help me in a big way.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Hi Quail,
Just memorize the sentences and every time you have some free time, practice. I practiced to music.
August 13th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Eyyyy, I thought I have left my comment, I am practicing your method, and it really work, I still have to watch the keyboard, but at least I am using to hands and more fingers now.
Tjank you for the tip.
I put this article in some pages as stumble.
My best wishes for you.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I’m so pleased that this information is helpful to others.
Once you get comfortable with the keys, try to focus on how it feels to hit the right keys. Soon, you will be able to actually tell when you are hitting the correct keys.
Tonis, thanks so much for the Stumble, this will help to get the word out.
September 7th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
this really sounds great but i need a little bit og help in this computer
anyways
my kids loved to type without seeing
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
This has helped me and made me a better typer and thank you for your help
November 23rd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Thanks so much for the feedback.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I want ot learn how to type properly… without looking at the key board! it is making me mad seeing others doing it and me not knowing how to do it right>>>
So I am hoping to learn something out of this program!!!
March 8th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Hi Liz,
It really works. In just a few weeks I transitioned from looking while typing to simply typing. Just practice a couple of minutes each day. Try typing the words to a favorite song or a nursery rhyme. When you can do that without mistakes, then type, over and over, common words such as “but, the, and, they, is, it, try, etc.” Nailing these words really helps.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I still cannot type without looking but thanks for trying!
March 15th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Hi Donnie,
This article should help you. It does take some practice so your fingers memorize where to strike the keys but if you practice, you’ll be typing in no time using this method.
June 20th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
there`s another senestence that contain all the letters in the alphabet
the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog
June 21st, 2009 at 10:03 am
Hello,
This is an excellent sentence; however, it is missing an “s.” “Dogs” could be used to fix this. Thank you for mentioning it as it is easy to remember and use.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
hi my name is yasmin acosta
July 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
hi my name is yasmin acosta
July 8th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
thb5yt
July 25th, 2009 at 12:47 am
its harder then it looks
September 4th, 2009 at 9:22 am
im goin to try this bc i need to learn for school this is a good article
September 4th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Thanks everyone.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I found I could type without looking at the keyboard automatically after a few years of MSN :L
October 26th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Hi,
Yes, the Internet has probably helped a number of people to type, without actively setting out to learn how to type.
December 20th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I used this technique, however i used the sentence, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” beause it uses ALL the letters in the alphabet in one go. Now i can type without looking. Thanks a lot
December 21st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Hi Steph,
That ’s a great sentence! Thanks for sharing. i will try that to increase my speed! It’s amazing how typing a sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet trains you to feel the letters with your fingers.
January 16th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
I use The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog, to learn how to type without looking (:
January 17th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Hi Laurie,
Yes, that is an excellent sentence. It can be used with an “s” added to dog, so that all the letters of the alphabet are used.
It’s amazing how just a few minutes of practice a day can take one from wanting to type without looking to actually being able to do so.
January 19th, 2010 at 4:28 am
this is great i can already type really fast but having to glance over at my text book is really annoying same as in highscholl when ur learning about molucules and crap like that and you dont know how to spell them its really annoying i found that i only practiced for 1 solid hour and i could do it with out looking and i kept my speed at the same level! btw it took me 1 mintue and 23 seconds to write this whole thing not in cluding after the last exclaimation mark
January 19th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Yes, when you don’t have to constantly look at your hands this makes the whole thing so much easier. And learning to type without looking is easier than most people think. Like anything else, with practice, it becomes automatic.
February 27th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
this is the best thing ever
February 27th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Hi Kenadi,
Yes, using a pangram (one sentence) really is a great help for adults who want to learn to type without looking.
March 5th, 2010 at 8:34 am
I think typing without looking the keyboard is so hard. I shall try your suggestion.
March 19th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Just choose a pangram and then practice it daily. Soon, you’ll be typing without looking.
March 21st, 2010 at 10:21 pm
there is no letter *Q* in the sentence!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
March 21st, 2010 at 10:23 pm
lol never mind!!! i just figured out it doesnt use it!!! lol sooooo sorry!
March 22nd, 2010 at 10:08 am
Hi Tiffany,
The sentences are in two parts so that the uncommon letters are introduced later.
These exercises really help. Just practice slowly and you’ll be amazed how your fingers start to feel the location of the letters.
If you just want to work with one sentence that uses all the letters of the alphabet, please see my article: http://continuingeducation.suite101.com/article.cfm/typing-practice
April 16th, 2010 at 6:15 am
Awesome article, will try out really need to learn how to type without looking, it works most of the time except sometimes i press another key nearby. Just in case, I checked out the link you gave above and thought just in case you need another one, here is another sentence with all the alphabets in it. Hope it helps.
‘Pack my box with twelve dozen liquor jugs for tomorow’s journey’
And if there any more ways that help to type without looking please post more links.
Thank you
November 30th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Hi, Athlyn, how are you?
I guess I’m the oddball here, since I actually bought a program and used it to learn how to type. It’s called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 11. I’m sure by now there are more out there, since this was more than 7 years ago. I paid about $40 for it, and it took me a few weeks to get used to all the keys, but the investment has paid for itself many times over. The great thing about this program is that it has fun exercises and games and remembers your progress. There is also a free-roam area where you can just practice your typing skill with any ol’ sentences.
You probably already do, but, I wonder if you know of the index finger rests? If you look at your keyboard you can see two little nubs on the letters f and j. That is where your index fingers should rest. Your other three fingers line up to the sides. Having the nubs allows a person to find his finger positioning on the keyboard when doing other things like taking a sip of coffee or picking up a phone. It ensures that you never have to look at your keyboard if you’re hard at work.
Anyway, thanks for sharing. Great advice and tips. Keep up the inspiring work.
December 1st, 2010 at 9:29 am
Hi,
Yes the nubs are there for people with vision problems, too. They re good tool for finger positioning.
Mavis Beacon is an excellent program.
October 26th, 2011 at 1:02 am
how i really wanted to type without looking …but its so hard
July 24th, 2012 at 10:12 am
very good suggestion about typing. it is very much appreciated by me.
santosh from baripada.
September 11th, 2012 at 6:57 am
i’m so thankful, i tried a lot to touch type but now it’s become easier 4 me!
November 6th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
It was hard but I got there
December 19th, 2012 at 5:21 am
nice one….and too helpfulll..